HARARE – There were fears for Vice President Kembo Mohadi’s health on Thursday after he appeared to collapse while delivering a lecture at the University of Zimbabwe.
Mohadi, 74, was in the middle of his address when he suddenly appeared to become disoriented and asked for water.
His knees buckled shortly after and his aides rushed to help him back to his feet, a witness said.
“He couldn’t stand and so they helped him to a chair. He spoke briefly after and after animated back stage discussions his presentation was cut short,” the witness said.
Journalists at the event were ordered to stop filming and taking pictures by Mohadi’s aides from the Central’s Intelligence Organisation.
The vice president was delivering a lecture on the title ‘Liberation Movements and African Unity: Why Resilience Matters for Sustained Transformative Possibilities.’
He was conspicuously absent later when President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the second Vice President Constantino Chiwenga attended the launch of 17 schools in Chikomba constructed with assistance from the OPEC Fund for International Development.
George Charamba, the spokesperson in the presidency, said he was away throughout the day and asked for more time to gather the facts. He had not responded to our enquiries at the time of writing.
A Zanu PF official briefed on the event told ZimLive: “He was reading his speech and then he asked for water. He had to be helped to sit down. He then continued his speech while seated.
“He did not necessarily collapse. In essence he broke the collapse.”
The same person also blamed organisers of the event, attended by higher education minister Prof Amon Murwira, “for the long speech.”
Mohadi was treated for injuries from a grenade explosion at a Zanu PF rally at White City Stadium in 2018, and a year later he was flown to South Africa after falling ill from an undisclosed ailment.
